2018. I will set up My covenant between Me and thee. That this signifies union, is evident from the signification of a "covenant," as being union (explained before, n. 665, 666, 1023, 1038); which union has been treated of in this chapter, and many times before; and it has been shown that Jehovah, who here speaks, was in the Lord, because He was one with Him from first conception and from birth; for the Lord was conceived from Jehovah, and hence His internal was Jehovah. This has been further illustrated by what is similar in man (n. 1999), namely, that his soul is one with his body, or his internal with his external, although they are distinct from each other, and sometimes so distinct that the one fights with the other, as is wont to be the case in temptations, in which the internal reproves the external and desires to reject the evil that is in it; and still they are conjoined, or are a one, because both soul and body belong to the same man. Take for example one whose thought differs from what he shows in his looks, speaks with his mouth, and acts by his gesture. There is in him an interior which is at variance with the external, but still they are one; for the thought is the man's as much as are the external looks, mouth, and gestures; but there is a union when the look, the speech of the lips, and the gestures accord with the thought. So much for illustration.